# Make it look real on sample data

- URL: https://getroomi.com/guide/make-it-look-real
- Updated: 2026-10-12

Fill the demo with invented data that looks like your client’s world: their kind of customers, their units, their amounts and their dates. Real-looking data lets a prospect picture it working for them. Invented data means nothing private ever leaves your hands, and nobody opening it has to wonder whose figures they are looking at.

This chapter covers why a demo never carries real data, and what good sample data looks like. Then the prompts that make it, and the small touches that make a demo look finished. The [docs on static demos](https://getroomi.com/docs/static) say what a demo may contain, and [chapter three](https://getroomi.com/guide/five-checks) checks it.

## Why not use their real data?

Because a demo is something you send, and anything in it can be seen by whoever opens it. Roomi runs every demo on mock data and says so in the room. Invented data costs nothing to make, can be as tidy or as messy as the story needs, and never puts anyone’s customers in front of a stranger.

There is a practical reason too. Everything in a static demo is sent to the viewer’s browser, so a real record in it is a real record shared. When you deploy, Roomi refuses a file that looks like it holds a live key, and the room tells every viewer the demo runs on mock data.

![The Ledgerline demo on sample data. Every client, invoice and amount in it is invented.](https://getroomi.com/guide/screens/demo-ledgerline.webp "The Ledgerline demo, running on sample data")

## What good sample data looks like

| Make it | Instead of |
|---|---|
| Names that sound real but are not: Fieldfare Bakery, Oakmoss Joinery | Customer 1, Test Ltd |
| Amounts in your client’s range and currency | Round numbers |
| Dates around today, with a few overdue | Every date in one month long ago |
| A few awkward cases: a late payer, a credit note | Only the happy path |
| One clear story in the numbers | Random values |

The story matters most. In Ledgerline, three fee invoices are late, and the overview puts them beside the month’s cash. A viewer sees the problem at once, and sees the product catch it.

## Prompts for sample data

Ask for the data you want in the same plain words you would use with a colleague:

```text
Replace the data with 24 invented UK clients of a small accountancy.
Mix the trades: a bakery, a joinery, two cafés, a dental practice, a
florist. Give each one 3 to 12 fee invoices over the last 90 days, in
pounds. Make three invoices clearly late, and flag each with how many
days late it is.
```

```text
Check every name in the demo. If any could be a real company or a real
person, change it to something clearly invented.
```

```text
Add a small "Sample data" label to the footer of every screen.
```

## If it uses an AI model

Give it canned answers. A demo never calls a live model. A live app demo on Roomi runs on Node 24 with no internet, so a call to a model has nowhere to go. A static demo would need the model’s key inside it, where every viewer could read it.

So if the heart of your idea is an assistant that writes, sorts or answers, write its best answers in advance. Pick the questions the tour will ask, and have the demo answer each one from a list:

```text
The assistant in this demo must not call any API. Write eight canned
answers for the questions the tour asks, and have the assistant pick the
closest one, with a short pause as if it were thinking. If someone asks
anything else, answer: "In the full product I would answer that. This
demo runs on sample answers."
```

A viewer sees the idea working, on answers you chose. That is usually better than a live model, which might say something you would not.

## Make it look finished

A demo looks finished when nothing in it reminds the viewer it is a demo. Ask Claude for each of these by name:

- **Real words, never placeholder text.** Every heading, button and empty state says something true to the story.
- **Your client’s words.** Jobs, not orders, for a joiner. Patients, not users, for a dental practice.
- **States, not just screens.** What a list looks like when it is empty, and what a slow screen shows while it loads.
- **One accent colour, used for one job.** Ledgerline uses it for what needs attention, and nothing else.
- **The right frame.** Say which device each app is for in `pitch.json`, and the room draws it in that frame: phone, tablet, laptop or screen.

Now check it before anyone sees it.

## Before you move on

- Every name, amount and date is invented, and none could be a real company or person
- The data tells one clear story, with a few awkward cases in it
- It uses your client’s words, units and currency
- Anything that would call an AI model answers from canned answers instead
- Every screen says it runs on sample data

## Questions people ask

### Is anything in a demo private?

No. Everything in a static demo is sent to the browser of whoever opens it, so treat every file as public. That is why a demo runs on invented data, with no keys and no customer records in it.

### Will the room tell viewers the data is invented?

Yes. Every room carries a notice that the demo runs on mock data and that nothing done in it reaches a real system, so a viewer can click anything without worrying.

## About the author

**[Kaz Kato](https://getroomi.com/about)**, Co-founder & CTO, Roomi. Kaz co-founded Roomi with Tesh, whom he has built with since 2017: two startups that failed, one venture studio that didn’t, and an exit.